Square Enix marked the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX on 7 July by releasing a one-minute “25th Anniversary Special Movie” that stitches together the PlayStation classic’s original full-motion video scenes over a new recording of the theme song “Melodies of Life.” The publisher also opened a fan-art submission campaign running through the end of October and rolled out commemorative merchandise and a prequel picture book written by game veterans Kazuhiko Aoki and Toshiyuki Itahana. While the anniversary material celebrates the 2000 role-playing game—which has sold 8.9 million copies to date—it has also reignited speculation that Square Enix is preparing a full remake. Final Fantasy IX was one of several unannounced titles named in a 2021 Nvidia GeForce Now database leak that has since proven accurate for other Square Enix projects. Multiple industry sources have said a remake is in development, although the company has offered no confirmation. Naoki Yoshida, producer of Final Fantasy XIV, cautioned last year that the scope of Final Fantasy IX would make condensing a remake into a single release difficult, hinting any project could mirror the multi-part structure used for the ongoing Final Fantasy VII Remake series. Square Enix did not address the rumours in its anniversary announcements, leaving fans to watch for further signals ahead of the franchise’s next slate of reveals.